... get funding ...
You're asking for us to be investors, why not give us the benefits of investors in return ?
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your input.
Strictly speaking you're buyers, not investors. We promise you delivery of an item at a future date in return for your payment. I can see why you might think that though, your 'investment' , as it were, is to give you a commercial advantage when your item gets delivered.
As a company we will use virtually all the money we get in orders to fund system development, satisfy those orders and stay afloat while doing so. After that we have to try to solicit more orders to keep the company going and invest in R&D for new products.
In traditional markets such as if we were buying a car or even a computer you would be correct in saying that we are buyers, not investors. However, people who purchase miners are not purchasing hardware so much as they are purchasing an investment. So even with "off the shelf" purchases we are investors who are taking a calculated risk with what we purchase. We aren't buying a miner to be cool (or hot) or because it gives us pleasure to look at or provides any utility to us outside of an investment.
The pre-order scheme takes that investment mindset a step further and asks the customer to take on additional risk beyond their calculated risk. It asks the customer to take risks that can't be calculated as accurately because there is less available information. Strictly speaking, from our perspective, in a pre-order we are not buyers but co-investors. A company who understands that this is the mindset of the small-time bitcoin miner would be a refreshing approach to the market.